Ava Cherry

Ava Cherry

Ava Cherry is an American singer and model. She collaborated with English musician David Bowie between 1972 and 1975; the two met in New York City when she was a nightclub waitress and Bowie was touring for The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Afterwards, they began a period of personal and artistic collaboration that heavily influenced the Young Americans "blue-eyed soul" era. Following this, she struck out as a solo singer and backing artist for musicians such as Luther Vandross and Chaka Khan. Growing up in Chicago with significant exposure to the local African-American music culture, Cherry became an influence in the works of a number of pre-eminent artists, as well as a respected musician in her own right. Cherry's influence on Young Americans through her connections to major soul music institutions such as Sigma Sound Studios and the Apollo Theater has proven a particularly noted part of her legacy, as has her contemporaneous work with proto-new wave band the Astronettes. Cherry's solo career has been long-running, with her first album Ripe!!! released in 1980. Her solo work, known for its disco influence, has received a mostly positive critical reception but a lack of commercial success; factors blamed for this critical and commercial disconnect include racial discrimination within the music industry and backlash against her predominant genres. In January 2022 she released her autobiography All That Glitters: The Ava Cherry Story.

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